First Amendment News

Bookstores and national bookseller associations are contesting a Texas law on sexually explicit books in school libraries. The law requires book sellers to rate books on the basis of sexual references. (The Texas Tribune, July 25, 2023, by Rebecca Schneid) Tennessee teachers are suing in federal court claiming that a law restricting what they can teach about race, gender and bias is unconstitutionally vague. The law was passed in the wake of protests after the

First Amendment lawyer Clay Calvert in The Hill, July 27, 2023, notes that many states are adopting buffer-zone laws to restrict how close a citizen can be to police while recording their actions. Calvert argues that the laws are unnecessary in that many states already have laws making it a crime to interfere or obstruct officers performing their duties. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards vetoed a law in June that made it illegal to stand

A federal district judge said he was leaning toward dismissing most of a lawsuit brought by artists against AI firms, citing the need for more facts about alleged copyright infringement. (Reuters, July 19, 2023, by Blake Brittain) Mike Masnick in techdirt, July 19, 2023, argues that it is futile for artists to use copyright to fight off AI since AI companies when training are doing the equivalent of reading a book and no one can

Free-lance journalist Nora Neus, Poynter, July 18, 2023, argues that paying sources for interviews may be justified under certain circumstances. “There are absolutely ethical issues with offering money in exchange for stories,” she says, “but when working with marginalized people and essentially profiting off their trauma, there are also ethical issues with not compensating them.”

Recent years has seen a significant increase in the numbers of Americans who want the federal government to restrict false information online, from 39 percent in 2018 to 55 percent in 2023. But more Americans are in favor of tech companies restricting false information, an increase from 56 percent in 2018 to 65 percent in 2023. By a wide margin more Democrats favor restrictions on online false information, 70 percent, than Republicans, 39 percent. (Pew